With a wide variety of options for online and hybrid shopping, brick-and-mortar stores need to increasingly offer great experiences to customers in order to stay competitive. Therefore, it is essential to adopt advanced technologies, such as smart video, which provides real-time insight into consumer needs in stores and supports faster and more responsive service.
Customer service benefits
There are several technological tools that significantly improve service — without the high costs and complexity of manual processes. AI-enabled video solutions, for example, enable a "simultaneous awareness" of the customer's journey through the store, as they count the number of people entering and leaving the establishment, ensuring that there are enough staff available to serve them. The team can be moved to the cash registers when queues increase and return to their regular tasks (such as administration, stock, and shelf replenishment) outside peak hours.
For consumers, having access to the right product, in the right place, at the right time is essential. In this sense, smart monitoring images help manage the goods on the shelves and trigger alarms to ensure they are restocked and always available. This also allows analyzing which products are more popular and thus positioning them in strategic locations where people can find them quickly.
Adoption of autonomous stores and security solutions
With the increase in the number of autonomous spaces or spaces with few employees, recording with modern technological surveillance cameras plays a very important role. They are able to identify individuals having difficulties at the self-service checkouts and send an employee to assist them. In addition to offering several high-value applications for autonomous environments, from traditional camera security to AI algorithms that detect thefts, these features ensure that buyers feel secure and help minimize stock losses.
Improved multichannel experience
The smart camera provides a much better omnichannel shopping experience, based on a deep understanding of the buyers' journey. Data analysis from recorded images ensures that online order and pickup kiosks are located in the right areas of the store to minimize congestion and speed up service. Furthermore, in distribution centers, orders can be picked and packed more accurately, reducing separation errors.
Many leading brand retailers are already partnering with monitoring and security companies to enhance their in-store services using smart cameras. Ultimately, by adopting these advanced technologies, merchants provide high-quality customer service and stay competitive.
